Judge, Giants will meet Tuesday, report says

Aaron Judge reportedly is in Northern California this week — and not merely to spend the holiday at home.

Judge, the outfielder and top prize on the free-agent market, is set to meet Tuesday with the San Francisco Giants, according to an MLB.com report. The Giants are considered a contender to land Judge, who grew up in Linden (San Joaquin County) as a Giants fan.

On Monday evening, MLB Network retweeted a 13-second video clip of Judge saying he had arrived in San Francisco.

“Just visiting some family and friends, that’s about it. That’s about it,” Judge said when asked what he’s doing in the city.

Judge last week was named AL Most Valuable Player for a 2022 season in which he hit 62 homers, batted .311 and led MLB in on-base percentage (.425), slugging (.686) and RBIs (131) for the Yankees.

Other teams expected to vie for Judge include the Yankees, his team for the past seven seasons, and the Dodgers. Prior to the 2022 season, Judge turned down a seven-year, $213.5 million offer from the Yankees. The Yankees made Judge an updated contract offer late last week, MLB.com reported.

The Giants have made clear they are willing to spend in free agency and like targeting players with Bay Area ties. Though Judge would offer star power, the Giants have multiple needs following a .500 season.

Farhan Zaidi, president of baseball operations, said at the recent GM meetings that, “from a financial standpoint, there’s nobody that would be out of our capability to meet what we expect the contract demands will be. Then it’ll be a question of whether there’s mutual interest and how we put together the best possible team. It’s not going to be any one player.”